The way I see it is that Sony is setting themselves up for a nice send off for the last years of PS4 (GoS, Death Stranding, TLoU2), and have other studios already working on sequels for their big franchise to start the PS5 generation (Horizon 2 and GoW 2 probably will be well into development when the PS5 launches).

I think Sony would be smart to buy up a few AA studios like MS have. Now that they don't have their main indie wing and they are getting less "free" exclusive, it's pretty much just super big budget or VR, with the odd indie sized game here and there. If 1 of their big studios hits a roadblock, it could completely kill an entire year. But a few AA that can pump out smalller stuff much quicker, could carry that weight a bit.

This doesn't mean anything though and I fail to see your point about it not being a good thing. Games will still be made for the base consoles regardless and being more "sought after" doesn't actually translate into anything because the vast majority of people will opt for the cheaper, value product just like with this gen and even in PC GPU's. The mobile market is probably the best example of multiple product launches at different price/performance tiers being a massive success.

I don’t think they are going to acquire anyone in the near (1-2 years) future. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the PS5 meeting/first PS5 game showcase was coupled with a new studio that has been acquired by Sony. But again, I doubt it. They like commissioning games when appropriate rather than buying teams.

I know Supermassive will have exclusives (probably all VR, possibly PS4 + VR simultaneously) and maybe Bluepoint will work on an exclusive game. But Ready at Dawn and Sanzaru seem really unlikely.

They’ve tried that though. We had a new studio do Sly and it’s nowhere to be seen since the PS3/Vita game. Knack sucked. The remasters of Patapon/Wipeout/LocoRoco/Parappa didn’t move the needle. Gravity Rush 1 and 2 didn’t attract a wide audience. But we had a great reimagining of Ratchet. I don’t think you are acknowledging how much effort they have put into that type of game, bruh. They’ve had internal and external studios try this and it doesn’t work out for them.

Maybe Concrete Genie and the Medieval remaster will be great but I’m skeptical that those games will reach more than a few hundred thousand people. Still have dreams to release as well. So I’m not seeing some gaping hole that you speak of.

I would be worried if Sony didn't show up at E3 if they didn't have any games announced but : dreams, The Last of Us II, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, Blood and Truth.
I mean even after E3 is kinda hard to imagine any other publisher having a line up with so many anticipated games.
Not gonna lie I'm gonna miss their presence on E3.
But as long as the games keep coming I can deal with it.
Also I'm pretty sure they will have some sort of their own show, so soon we'll know what are their plans!

There is no both sides here. One company is delivering on quality AAA Class leading games. The other is developing a cult around an executive, studio purchases, and blind faith that a good game will eventually hit.

Sure, I get that. I personally think that if either company did 3 models, the consumer wouldn't be confused by it and it will give more options for the people who understand what the differences are. In the GPU market you have Nvidia selling product lines starting from the GTX x50 line all the way up to GTX x80 line (I know the 1030 exists but according to Nvidia it's not a GTX card but "GT"). I don't see anyone confused with that product segmenting and it's actually one of the biggest advantages of PC gaming considering you have so many performance options for basically all budgets. I'm not saying XBox2/PS5 need 10 products in their family but having a selection of options will only benefit the consumer overall.

You're thinking in terms of people like us who frequent boards like this and stay up on all the convoluted messes that are naming conventions and minor upgrades. The average public, the majority of Sony and MS's base has no clue a forum like this even exists. Those are the people they go after. They know they have us. They know we won't be confused by their jargon, and split SKUs, and whatever else we pay attention to. The people they are going for need it simplified. What's the price, what games we getting, etc. Splitting up into 3 is just asking for confusion I don't think MS needs.

I've heard people on the Bombcast say that to this very day, they know people who still assume Xbox requires always online. MS fucked up that messaging hard and when you make it messy, it's hard to go back on. People want simple. I also wonder if they'll simplify it more by having Game Pass and Live be one thing you pay for starting next gen. Here's your Netflix of games package along with the online services you always knew. Simple and clean. maybe still a pipe dream, though.

Okay well I got nothing else to say if you just want to completely ignore their efforts. They have tried to reach a family friendly audience. That audience isn’t receptive to Playstation unless it’s MLB The Show. PlayStation is serving an audience that other manufacturers are not.

They’ve tried that though. We had a new studio do Sly and it’s nowhere to be seen since the PS3/Vita game. Knack sucked. The remasters of Patapon/Wipeout/LocoRoco/Parappa didn’t move the needle. Gravity Rush 1 and 2 didn’t attract a wide audience. But we had a great reimagining of Ratchet. I don’t think you are acknowledging how much effort they have put into that type of game, bruh. They’ve had internal and external studios try this and it doesn’t work out for them.

Maybe Concrete Genie and the Medieval remaster will be great but I’m skeptical that those games will reach more than a few hundred thousand people. Still have dreams to release as well. So I’m not seeing some gaping hole that you speak of.

I wouldn’t say mastered. GoW, TLOU, and Bloodborne are master pieces, sure. But games like Horizon, Spider-Man, and Infamous had things that could have been better, perhaps much better. I would rather those studios keep going with those types of games. And there is no way I would pull ND and SSM off TLOU/Uncharted/GoW type games.

So my point is: I don’t see where there is space for Sony to put a top tier studio on a Nintendo type game.

They've mastered that shit. Same as Nintendo mastered platformers and their games. These are master class video games. Horizon and Spider-Man were first their respective series, so of course they aren't perfect.. but they were fun as hell.

I don't understand how it's not simple? If the average tech-illiterate/uneducated consumer isn't confused by the several product tiers being offered in the smartphone market by Samsung or Apple for example, I don't see why they'd suddenly be confused by multiple console's within a console family. I already mentioned before that they might not necessarily know the specifics of each product tier but 'paying more = better performance' is a simple concept to understand. Hell, the current gen is already doing it with PS4/X1S and PS4P/X1X and consumers are already used to it.

I do think Japan studios will be much better next gen too. They seem to have their shit in order going into next gen, unlike this gen, which could very easily deal with the lack smalller exclusives problem in the future.

Even if they lose out on all those exclusives I still don't see Sony falling on hard enough times to rush out and buy studios. When the loudest critics of Sony's policies still remark "I'm only gonna buy a PS5 for exclusives" then it's clear Sony has little to worry about overall.

Even if they lose out on all those exclusives I still don't see Sony falling on hard enough times to rush out and buy studios. When the loudest critics of Sony's policies still remark "I'm only gonna buy a PS5 for exclusives" then it's clear Sony has little to worry about overall.

I really don't care too much about what he said, other than I think that the dismissive attitude and talk about E3 is really sucky for us hardcore video game fans who love that gaming focused event. I don't get this whole thing where even the Sony fans seem okay or resigned to it because "the world has changed" or something when you know that almost every one of them would be thrilled with Sony showing up at E3 to show cool things even if known stuff or 3rd party too. No matter how anyone wants to spin it, this is just not a gamer friendly move no matter the supposed rationale. E3 is the largest celebration of video games, and Sony is sitting it out by choice which also impacts the ability of 3rd party developers to get similar exposure.

I don't understand how it's not simple? If the average tech-illiterate/uneducated consumer isn't confused by the several product tiers being offered in the smartphone market by Samsung or Apple for example, I don't see why they'd suddenly be confused by multiple console's within a console family. I already mentioned before that they might not necessarily know the specifics of each product tier but 'paying more = better performance' is a simple concept to understand. Hell, the current gen is already doing it with PS4/X1S and PS4P/X1X and consumers are already used to it.

Right, but that's two SKUs. I'm not convinced the average consumer isn't a little confused with all the phone choices. My wife isn't tech illiterate and still has tons of questions when it comes to choices for buying. I just think simple is best for a launch and I don't see a streaming only Xbox as worth whatever cost it would be to make compared to the other two. Simply because internet here is ass in most places. Maybe I'm wrong and they just go for it. Curious either way what 2020/2021 looks like.

They actually published quite a few stinkers last year, like two VR games from the Until Dawn developer Supermassive. They published 20 games total last year. But of course the great ones make up for it, atleast in my eyes.

I really don't care too much about what he said, other than I think that the dismissive attitude and talk about E3 is really sucky for us hardcore video game fans who love that gaming focused event. I don't get this whole thing where even the Sony fans seem okay or resigned to it because "the world has changed" or something when you know that almost every one of them would be thrilled with Sony showing up at E3 to show cool things even if known stuff or 3rd party too. No matter how anyone wants to spin it, this is just not a gamer friendly move no matter the supposed rationale. E3 is the largest celebration of video games, and Sony is sitting it out by choice.

Obsidian isn't single platform so he's not wrong. They're still making games for both console and PC. If a studio is acquired by Sony I very much doubt they'll be allowed to release games on 2 platforms like MS are doing.

Obsidian isn't single platform so he's not wrong. They're still making games for both console and PC. If a studio is acquired by Sony I very much doubt they'll be allowed to release games on 2 platforms like MS are doing.

There is no both sides here. One company is delivering on quality AAA Class leading games. The other is developing a cult around an executive, studio purchases, and blind faith that a good game will eventually hit.

You got me... I guess what I meant was the AAA games they make tend to be rated "M". They have guns, bows, swords, or someother weapon and are dark and grim. I want to see them make a AAA platforming game, no Ratchet was not AAA and neither was Knack (or Gravity Rush 2 for that matter).